First baseman Joey Votto and the Cincinnati Reds agreed Monday on the framework to a 10-year, $225 million extension, a source told ESPN.com.

The two sides have been discussing a new deal during spring training, but talks really picked up seven to 10 days ago. Earlier Monday, Votto declined to get into specifics when asked how close the two sides were to completing a deal.

"Ask Walt about that," Votto said, referring to general manager Walt Jocketty, after Monday's 2-1 loss (The Reds Won 2-1) to the Cleveland Indians.

The Reds tried to sign Votto to a long-term deal after he led them to the NL Central title and won the NL MVP award in 2010. Instead, they settled for a three-year, $38 million deal that avoided salary arbitration and kept Votto under contract through 2013.

The 28-year-old first baseman has base salaries of $9.5 million this year and $17 million in 2013. He batted .309 last season with 28 homers and 103 RBIs, making the All-Star team for the second straight year.

The Reds have tried to lock up the young nucleus of their playoff team with multiyear deals. Outfielder Jay Bruce got a six-year, $51 million deal after the 2010 season.

Two other NL Central first basemen left their teams to get enormous deals in the offseason. Albert Pujols, who helped St. Louis win the World Series, signed a 10-year, $254 million deal with the Angels in December. Milwaukee's Prince Fielder got a nine-year, $214 million contract from the Tigers in January.

JOTT wrote:Does anyone think Votto is worth a long term deal like this? I heard there's a no trade claus as well..

They should have used some of this money to sign BP to a long term deal.

It's hard to say any player is worth a deal like that. But, if you have to pick one guy from this team, Votto would be the guy. As for Phillips, I love the guy and would like to see him as a Red for years to come. But, I believe four of the Reds top prospects are middle infielders. And whose not to say we're not going to make BP a decent offer to keep him around a few more years.

The market is there to justify Votto's contract. Look at Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols. Now Votto isn't Pujols but he's up to par with Fielder. If we didn't pay him this someone else would next year. Plus he's young, healthy (minus some vertigo) and a team leader. He's a lockerroom guy you can build around. He's also a great defensive first basemen.

I think the Reds will still try to resign Phillips and have a good chance of pulling it off. But if we can't, we have people behind him that can produce not as much but enough to make us not lose too much. We traded Votto's replacement (Yonder Alonzo) this offseason so we needed him or we'd be hurting.

i'm cool with this move. votto is young enough to justify the huge contract, he'll be an all star every year, the market is only going to increase etc...had they waited til his 3 year deal is over they'd have definitely overpayed, or worse lost him. when they traded alonzo this move was inevitable.

as much as i like datdude...and he's 1 of my all time faves, i think you gotta move him. they can't resign him for more than a year or 2 and there's teams like philly that would over value a 2B and give us a starter.